Current Special Exhibitions

OPENS

Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust

February 22 – September 7, 2015

Main Special Exhibition Gallery

Although World War II is one of the most documented conflicts of the 20th century, western audiences know very little about the Soviet Jewish photojournalists who captured some of the most riveting and powerful images of the war. These wartime photographers were the first liberators to bear witness with cameras to Nazi atrocities, three years before Americans arrived at Buchenwald and Dachau. Photographers including, Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma, and Dmitrii Baltermants, merged documentary photography with avant-garde sensibilities to create works that had a profound influence on 20th century art and beyond.

Supporting Sponsors: David C. & Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation, General Electric, and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

The Golder Family Foundation is lead sponsor for all Illinois Holocaust Museum special exhibitions.

Community Partners: Chicago Connect; Holocaust Community Services, a collaborative effort of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Jewish Child and Family Services, and CJE SeniorLife; the Russian Jewish Division of the Jewish United Fund; and HIAS Chicago.

Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust is curated by David Shneer and Lisa Tamiris Becker, and is organized by the CU Art Museum, University of Colorado Boulder.

Remember Me:Soviet Jewish Artifacts from the Permanent Collection of the Illinois Holocaust Museum

February 22-September 7, 2015

Main Special Exhibition Gallery

“Remember me…”
These are the last words written on the back of a photograph displayed in this exhibition. Over forty photographs and personal items from local individuals describe the stories of the Soviet Jewish experience during the Holocaust, whether in the ghettos of the Baltics, in refuge in Tashkent and elsewhere, or in the heat of battle in the Red Army. The exhibition explores diverse stories of tragedy, survival, combat, and of human endurance.

Abandoned at Srebrenica:

Photographs from the Aftermath

March 26, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Second Floor Hall of Reflection Gallery

Photograph courtesy of Tarik Samarah

Between July and December 2002, Bosnian photographer Tarik Samarah documented the lives of Srebrenica survivors and the work of identifying the dead from the mass graves. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum turned his collection into an exhibition that preserves the memory of those lost and gives insight into the aftermath of genocide. “After Auschwitz the world said never again,” Samarah states, explaining the project, “but Srebrenica happened. After Srebrenica, massacres and crimes continue…I would be ashamed to be quiet in this kind of world.”

This exhibition commemorates 20 years since the genocide and is presented in partnership with the Bosnian American Genocide Institute.

Abandoned at Srebrenica: Photographs from the Aftermath was produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Three Years, Eight Months, and Twenty Days:
The Cambodian Atrocities and the Search for Justice

May 5 – March 20, 2016

Goodman Balcony Gallery

For three years, eight months, and twenty days, the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot ruled Cambodia, enacting a program of harsh internment and torture and subjecting the Cambodian people to inhumane living conditions, starvation, forced labor, forced marriages, and execution. An estimated 1.7 million people perished under this regime. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, created by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations, became fully operational in June 2007 to bring to justice senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime and those who were most responsible for international crimes and violations of Cambodian penal law from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979.This panel exhibition examines both the history of that period and the on-going trials.

This exhibition was produced by Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in partnership with the Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago.The Golder Family Foundation is the lead sponsor for all Illinois Holocaust Museum special exhibitions.The organizers are grateful to their community partner, the Cambodian Association of Illinois.2015 Genocide and Human Rights Commemorative Initiatives Sponsor: Oscar Isberian Rugs/Pedian Carpet.